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SPARKS 

AND 

LITTLE SPARKS 


By 

RUTH and HARROP A. FREEMAN 

tt 

Authors of 

CHIPS AND LITTLE CHIPS, CAPTAIN AND MATE 


Pictures by 

ROBERT N. BLAIR 


Junior Press Books 

ALBERT WHITMAN & COMPANY 

CHICAGO ILLINOIS 


I 940 


Copyright, 1940, by 
ALBERT WHITMAN & COMPANY 



RECEIVED 

AUG -11940 

COPYRIGHT OFFICE 


Printed in the U.S.A. 


FZt 

Fvii 

% 








SPARKS AND LITTLE SPARKS 


W E must have our new house carefully wired for 
electricity, Son. Sparks Russell is the electrician 
who is going to do the work. You can watch him 
the same as you did Chips the carpenter, when he built the 
house. Perhaps Sparks will show you how to wire your 
playhouse.” 

“That will be fun, Father, and I will learn about 
electricity and wiring.” 

Sparks Russell had formerly tended one of the large 
generators at the power plant. A generator is a machine 
that makes electricity. Sparks left the power plant to wire 
houses and to do general electrical work. 

When Sparks came to the house the little boy said: 
“Father called you Sparks. May I call you Sparks?” 

“Yes, you may call me Sparks. May I call you Little 
Sparks?” 

“I would like to be called Little Sparks. I would like 
lights in my playhouse. Will you show me how to wire it?” 


3 



Sparks said: “You may watch me wire the big house. 
When you see how that is done, I will show you how to 
wire your playhouse. Before I start wiring the house I 
must go to the electric company for some material. If you 
will come with me I shall show you how electricity is made 
and how it comes to you.” 


4 




Little Sparks ran to Sparks’s truck. He wanted to know 
more about electricity. He did not understand how 
electricity could light a room when he could not see the 
electricity itself. 


5 






Sparks and 
Little Sparks went 
through the power 
plant. It was a 
hydraulic plant. A 
hydraulic plant is 
run by water from 
a falls or a dam in 
a river. Some 
power plants are 
run by steam. 

Sparks explained 

that water or steam is carried by pipes called penstocks 
and discharged against a wheel with blades on it like a 
windmill. This wheel is called a turbine. The water or 
steam turns the turbine as wind turns a windmill. The 
shaft of the turbine is attached to a generator. A generator 
is like an electric motor run backward. Instead of using 
electricity it manufactures it. 


6 











When Little Sparks came home he made a little turbine. 
He fastened small tin cans to the rim of an old cartwheel. 
He held the garden hose so that it squirted into each can. 
The water dumped out of each can as it came to the 
bottom. The wheel whirled around and around. 


7 






On the way home ^ £ 

from the power 
plant Sparks had 
showed Little 
Sparks the electric 
light poles and 
wires. He showed 
him the transform¬ 
ers high on the 
poles. He explained 
that the wires 
carried alternating 
current at high 
voltage. Voltage is a way of measuring the strength of 
electricity. Alternating current is electricity that goes on 
and off like the ticking of a watch, fifty times a second. 
We cannot see it go on and off. The transformers change 
the higher voltage to a lower voltage so that it can be used 
safely in a house. 

8 




4 




At home Little Sparks cut off some old broomsticks. He 
nailed a piece of wood across the top of each. He drove the 
broomsticks into the ground near his playhouse. These 
were his electric light poles. 


9 







Little Sparks 
asked Sparks to 
show him what 
materials and 
tools he would 
use. Sparks went 
to his truck and 
returned with 
rolls of wire, black 
tape, cable, little 
iron boxes, and 
switches. The 
cable is a covering 
for the wire where 
it runs inside the 

walls. The iron boxes are fitted into the wall to enclose the 
switches. 

Sparks also brought in his tool chest. 


10 



Sparks gave Little Sparks some bell wire, two dry cell 
batteries and some little sockets with flashlight bulbs in 
them. Little Sparks put the batteries near his playhouse 
and turned a box upside down over them. This was his 
powerhouse. 


II 




In Sparks’s tool chest there were tools different from 
those of Chips the Carpenter. There were extension bits, 
pliers, soldering irons, hacksaws, and wire strippers. 


12 





Little Sparks used a hammer, pliers, box of brads, and 
brace and bit. He got these tools from his basement work 
bench. The dry cell batteries each had two bolts on top. 
One was marked + or plus charge, and one was marked — 
or minus charge. Little Sparks connected a short wire from 
one + to one —. Then he connected one long wire to the 
other + and one long wire to the other —. These two long 
wires he strung along the poles to his playhouse. 


13 






The electrician has a plan for his work. This is shown by 
symbols on a house plan. Sparks explained the symbols to 
Little Sparks by writing the meaning under each symbol. 
Each electric outlet is connected into a circuit. An ordinary 
nouse has three or four circuits. 


14 





Sparks drew an electric plan for Little Sparks’s play¬ 
house. It showed two lights inside the house, and a switch 
and one light outside. Sparks showed him how to make a 
switch. 


is 






Sparks connected 
two heavy wires to 
the electric line 
which the power 
company had run to 
the house. These 
heavy wires Sparks 
ran through a conduit 
pipe into the base¬ 
ment. At the end of 
these wires he in¬ 
stalled a meter. A 
meter measures how 
much electricity is 
used in the house. He installed a switch box so that all the 
lights in the house can be turned out. He put in a fuse box. 
There was a fuse for each circuit. If anything went wrong 
with any circuit it would blow the fuse in that circuit and 
not hurt the wiring. 







Little Sparks put two small bolts through holes in the 
side of his playhouse. He fastened the two wires from his 
poles to these. He cut a strip of tin. He bored a hole in one 
end. He put a bolt through this end and through a little 
block of wood. He connected one of his long wires to this 
bolt. At the other end of the block he put another bolt. He 
connected a wire from this bolt into the playhouse. When 
he swung the end of the strip of tin against this bolt the 
electric current flowed through the wire. When he swung 
it away the current was turned off. 


17 




Sparks bored holes 
through the floor 
joists of the house 
and ran wires from 
the fuse box to all 
parts of the house. 

These wires ran 
inside a cable. This 
cable was connected 
to the ground. If a 
bare wire touched the 
cable, or a box, the 
current would flow into the ground. It would not hurt 
anyone. Where there was to be an outlet he cut his wires 
and left them hanging. Later he would put small metal 
boxes at each place. When Sparks spliced a wire he 
soldered the joint and covered it with friction tape. 

18 




Little Sparks had made the roof of his playhouse so it 
could be taken off. He ran two wires along the ceiling of 
the rooms below. He used small brads to hold the wires in 
place. He ran two short wires outside the front door. 


19 





Sparks fastened little metal boxes at each outlet. He 
brought the cable and wire into each box through holes in 
the side of the boxes. The boxes for switches and plugs 
were square. The boxes for ceiling lights were round. The 
switches or ceiling lights would cover the boxes when the 
house was finished. 


20 






Little Sparks did not have boxes for his outlets. He 
spliced very short pieces of wire to each of the long wires 
where his lights were to be. He carefully taped each joint. 


21 








Sparks next installed the switches, plugs, and light 
fixtures. Where he connected the wires from the fixture to 
the wires in the box he covered the joint with a nipple. A 
nipple is a piece of hard rubber that looks like Mother’s 
thimble. 


22 




Little Sparks installed his light sockets. There was one 
in the living room of his playhouse. There was one in the 
kitchen. There was one above the front door. He screwed 
the flashlight bulbs into the sockets. 


23 




Sparks installed a separate circuit for the electric stove. 
This used 220 volts. The lights in the house used only no 
volts. He used heavy wire for this circuit. He connected the 
stove by a heavy plug in the base board. He explained what 
caused the stove to heat. When the electric current flows 
through a wire that resists the current the wire gets hot. 


24 
















resistance wire. He gave 
him a porcelain insulator. Little Sparks wound the wire 
around the insulator. When he attached this to the wires 
in his playhouse it got hot. This was his stove. 


25 



Sparks was 
nearly finished. 

He must connect 
the door bells. He 
put a small 
transformer, like 
an electric train 
transformer, in 
the basement. 

This cut the s >L 
voltage down to \ 
six volts for the 
bell. He fitted a 
small push 

button at the right of the front door. When the button was 
pushed a chime rang. He put a pushbutton to the right of 
the back door. When this button was pushed a buzzer 
sounded. One could tell by the sound whether a person 
was at the back door or the front door. 


g'/ t 



26 






Little Sparks got a pushbutton and a buzzer from Sparks. 
Sparks showed him how to connect these into his battery 
circuit. He ran a wire from his switch to the pushbutton. 
He ran a wire from the pushbutton to the buzzer. He ran 
another wire from the buzzer to the wire outside the play¬ 
house which was not connected to the switch. When he 
pressed the button the buzzer sounded. 


27 




When Sparks had finished his work he carefully wiped 
every tool and put it back into its place in his tool box. He 
coiled the wire that was left. He gathered up all his 
material and put it in a box. 


28 





Little Sparks also gathered up all his tools. He carefully 
wiped each tool. He hung each tool in its place over his 
work bench in the basement. 


29 




Sparks sat down 
with Little Sparks 
before he went. “I 
have left an 
extension outside 
the house for you. 

You may wish to 
use your electric 
train. I am proud of 
my job. Electricity 
is a great friend. 

Installing electric- 
ity is a great 
service. 

“Electricity can hurt you as well as be a friend. Use 
electricity for what it is intended. Never fool with it. Never 
stick anything into a socket or plug. Never touch a bare 
wire that may be connected.” 


3 ° 



Little Sparks 
connected up his 
electric train to 
the extension 
Sparks left 
outside the 
house. He knew 
now that the 
electricity 
passed through 

a little motor inside the engine. When he turned off the 
switch the electricity stopped going through the motor and 
the train stopped. The train ran past his playhouse. It was 
fun to stop the train near the playhouse to take on and let 
off passengers. 


31 






At night Father turned on all the lights in the big house 
and Little Sparks turned on the lights in the playhouse and 
in the train. This is how it looked from the street. 


32 

















ELECTRIC 50 ND- 








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